Missing
by Taryo88
Summary: This story takes place approximately 3 days, six hours, and twelve minutes before The Lost Hero, the morning Annabeth wakes up and finds Percy gone.


**Author's Note: **Hello there. If you are looking for a good Percy Jackson fanfiction, you have come to the right place...at least I hope it's a good fanfiction. If you don't like it, feel free to cleanse your reading palate by reading some ACTUAL Percy Jackson, but if you like it, comment or...something. Alright? Alright.

P.S. I realize that Dionysus would have already been recalled to Olympus at this point, but I didn't realize this until after I was done writing and now I am too fond of that part to cut it out.

**Disclaimer:** I, sadly, do not own Percy Jackson. That is all Rick Riordan. (Currently tear-bending for not having the creativity to have come up with all this myself)

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I had just had a terrible night.

A demigod's dreams are never peaceful, but mine had never been this unsettling. My nightmares had been full of daunting words and images that filled me with dread. Even after I woke up I couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding that the dreams had brought. I didn't quite understand what the dreams meant, but they were still making me tremble. So, of course, my first instinct was to talk to Percy.

Being around Percy always made me feel stronger, and he was the poster child for terrible demigod dreams if all the times I had seen him wake up trembling were any indication. I made my way out of my cabin and towards Cabin 3 in a daze, my brain still occupied with dark thoughts and my heart heavy with apprehension. I was so out of it that I almost ran right into Travis Stoll.

"Woah, anyone in there?" He teased, waving his hand mockingly in front of my face.

I rolled my eyes and walked around him, "Don't you have somewhere to be Travis?"

"Yeah, at breakfast. You should be there too, it's like eight thirty already!" With that he walked off towards the pavilion.

_Eight thirty?_ I frowned. I had left my cabin without looking at the clock, but it being eight thirty didn't seem possible. Breakfast started at eight thirty five and I _never_ slept that late. So why hadn't someone in my cabin woken me up? Why hadn't _Percy_ woken me up?

My stomach dropped down to my feet as I jogged the rest of the way to Percy's cabin, my dread increasing. I tried to shake the feeling as Cabin 3's seashell framed windows came into view, but all I managed was to ignore it.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain, you in there?" I asked as I knocked on the door. _He must still be asleep_, I thought as I opened the door, a small smile growing on my face.

The smile didn't last long.

When the door was open and I took in what I was seeing, my smile faded and apprehension threatened to swallow me again.

The first thing I noticed was the fountain. Tyson had mended it from where Percy had broken it, and it looked a million times better than it had before, you couldn't even see where it had been cleaved in half. Tyson was just talented that way. Then I took in the huge mess that was Percy's cabin.

There were dirty clothes and old towels from swimming all over the floor and trash all over his nightstand due to the fact that Tyson wasn't there to clean up for him this winter. Upon further inspection of his nightstand I noticed a picture. A picture of me in my Camp Half-Blood t-shirt that Percy had taken on our first date. I was ogling at the fact that Percy had a picture of me right by his head when he slept when I noticed the bed.

I know what your thinking. _If you thought he was asleep, wouldn't the bed be the first place you looked?_ Maybe it should have been, but my nightmares had really messed with my head, and none of that really mattered anyway, because his bed was empty.

The blankets were in complete disarray and there were a few fresh drool stains on his pillow so he had obviously slept there, but there was no sign of him anywhere.

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down, because at this point I was starting to panic. There was a cold feeling spreading down my back that didn't feel natural, but I tried to rationalize. _He must already be heading to breakfast_, I thought, _I must have just missed him_.

I hadn't really convinced myself but I made a beeline for the dinning pavilion anyway, weaving in and out of the other cabins that were already empty, all their campers already getting food. I had checked the clock on my way out of Percy's cabin to find that I was almost late for breakfast, so I basically sprinted the whole way there to find a scene that wasn't any more comforting, because Percy wasn't there either. Before I could freak out anymore, however, my brothers and sisters from the Athena cabin pulled me toward the table and forced me to sit down.

I ate breakfast half-heartedly, mainly just pushing my food around my plate and wishing I had some blue chocolate chip cookies to lift my spirits, but if anyone noticed they didn't say anything. I was trying to make a list of places Percy could be that would prevent him from eating but I couldn't come up with many. Seaweed Brain lived for pancakes and blue Cherry Coke. There were some whispers going around as to why Percy wasn't at breakfast, but most people just assumed he had slept in; it wouldn't have been the first time. I knew better.

_Maybe he's practicing_, whispered an optimistic voice in my head that sounded vaguely like Grover for some reason.

"Hey Malcolm, have you seen Percy today?" I asked weakly, already dreading the answer I knew I would get.

Sure enough, he just frowned. "No, I haven't seen him today. Why are you so worried? It wouldn't be the first time he's slept in."

"I already checked his cabin," I said, "he's not in there."

Malcolm furrowed his brows then shrugged. He just went back to eating his food, leaving me to drown in dread. I waited until breakfast was over to really panic. I told myself I would look for him in three more places, the canoe lake, the sword-fighting arena, and the beach, his favorite places. If he wasn't there, I would tell Chiron.

Slipping away from my siblings while they went to their first activity wasn't hard. Being head counselor they couldn't really argue with me when I told them that I would meet them there, so I ducked out and headed toward the canoe lake, passing some Apollo campers playing volleyball and the Aphrodite campers placing bets on their love lives. When I got there a few naiads jumped back into the water and there were a couple campers from the Hypnos cabin snoozing on the shore, but it was completely Percy free. I checked the beach and the arena without luck before heading to the Big House to talk to Chiron.

I was past the point of hoping to find him, and I was no longer stuck with that foreboding feeling, I had moved on to accepting it because I knew with certainty he was gone.

The blue walls of the Big House came into focus and I sprinted the rest of the way up the hill ignoring the strange looks I was getting from the Hephaestus campers as I passed the forges. I slowed down as I climbed the steps of the porch, that unnatural chill sliding down my neck once again, then shouldered open the door. The scene I saw was a typical one of the Big House. Chiron was playing, and winning, a game of pinochle while Mr. D nonchalantly sipped a Diet Coke. I had hoped to find Chiron alone, but my life had never been easy.

"Chiron, can I talk to you?" I asked, nervously playing with the camp beads around my neck.

"Certainly child, what is it?" Chiron was giving me his full attention, but unfortunately so was Mr. D, and that made the conversation more awkward.

I paused contemplating what to say when Dionysus filled the silence, "Yes, yes, spit it out Annie Bell." He said with an amiable wave of his hand.

I decided it would be best if I forgot that the god of wine was there, so I turned toward Chiron and continued. "Percy is gone." I didn't mean to, but the words just started tumbling out. Chiron had always had that affect on me, he was like a second dad that I could tell everything to. I told him about my dreams and about not finding Percy anywhere, and by the time I was finished, his face was a nasty shade of green.

Chiron opened his mouth to say something but before he got the chance Dionysus burped. "I don't see what the problem is Amy. I say the camp is better off with one less camper to take care of. Peter was always a pain in my neck anyway."

I almost quipped a Percy worthy comeback but thought better of it at the last minute. I wouldn't be able to do Percy any good if Mr. D turned me into a dolphin so I settled for a glare instead. The look I gave him must have been murderous because Chiron gripped my arm and steered me out of the room. "Why don't we talk in here?"

Once we were out of Mr. D's earshot the centaur continued. "Annabeth, we will send a search party out to search the camp immediately. I don't see how he could have gotten out of the borders without Dionysus knowing of it, so he is bound to show up sooner or later. Don't worry, we will find him."

I just nodded half-heartedly. I could tell that Chiron didn't believe that anymore than I did. I knew they wouldn't find him inside the camp, and the words from my dreams rebounded around in my head. A cold sleepy voice whispering in the darkness, _oh yes, I have certainly chosen my sacrifices well_. And a woman who sounded vaguely familiar saying something that scared me more than the daunting omen about sacrifices. Her words were clear and calculating, _I have borrowed your favorite trophy from the Titan War, but don't worry, if everything goes according to plan you will get him back without a scratch_.

Just then, Mr. D yelled something about not being able to hold himself off from cheating any longer and Chiron sighed. Sensing it was time for me to go, I thanked him for listening to me and started towards my cabin. I know, being head counselor I should have gone back to do my activities and responsibilities. But... I knew how the gods were. Mr. D wouldn't do much, and there was only so much Chiron could do. I knew deep inside, Percy needed my help. Wherever he was. My dreams hadn't told me everything, but they had given me a big clue.

As I entered the cabin, absentmindedly rubbing my camp beads with the addition of the red coral pendant Percy had brought back from his father's kingdom for me, I grabbed Daedalus's laptop, paper and pencils. Sitting down at my workstation, I stared at my picture of Percy with his orange camp shirt and lopsided, troublemaker smile. I felt a tear run down my cheek. I wiped it away, and vowed to the Gods, on the River Styx, and most importantly, to Percy, that I would do anything and everything in my power to find him. It's what he would do for me. And when, not if, I found him, I was going to give him a piece of my mind for disappearing without my permission.


End file.
